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Lee Li Lian
Singaporean politician (born 1978) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Lee Li Lian (Chinese: 李丽连; pinyin: Lǐ Lìlián; born 19 July 1978) is a Singaporean politician. A member of the Workers' Party (WP), she was the Member of Parliament for Punggol East SMC between 2013 and 2015.
Lee made her political debut in the 2011 general election where she contested in Punggol East SMC but lost. She later served as the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Punggol East SMC between 2013 and 2015 after winning the 2013 by-election but lost her seat to Charles Chong in the 2015 general election by a narrow margin.
Although she did not contest for prior to the 2020 general election and 2025 general election, she still remains active in politics. Lee was elected to the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) as Deputy Head of Media Team since 2024.
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Career
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Outside politics, Lee worked as a Business Development Executive at Clapper (S) Pte Ltd (2000–2003), a Financial Consultant for American International Assurance (2003–2005), a Broker with CIMB-GK Securities (2005–2006), a Recruitment Manager for Prudential Assurance (2006–2008) and a Senior Trainer at Great Eastern Life Assurance (2008–2013).[1] Lee resigned from her job as a financial trainer to serve as a full-time MP following her victory in the Punggol East by-election.[2]
Political career
Lee was part of the executive council of WP's Youth Wing and became the organising secretary in 2006.[1]
Lee was later elected into the WP's Central Executive Committee and appointed the Deputy Treasurer from 2008[1] to 2011, the party's Youth Wing President[3] from 2011 to 2012 and the Deputy Webmaster from 2012 to 2014.[4] Since 2014, she has been the Organising Secretary on the party's Executive Council.
Lee made her debut in the political arena on the 2011 general election where she was fielded as a candidate representing the Punggol East SMC, a ward formerly part of the neighbouring Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC.[5] She faced competition against People's Action Party (PAP) candidate Michael Palmer and Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) candidate Desmond Lim in a three way contest for the SMC. Lee garnered 12,777 votes (41.01%) and lost to Palmer who obtained 16,994 votes (54.54%) with Lee receiving only 1,387 votes (4.45%). After the election, Lee served as a legislative assistant to Pritam Singh, one of the WP MPs representing the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency.[3]
On 12 December 2012, Palmer resigned his Speaker and MP post after confessing that he had an extra-marital affair with the Constituency Director of the People's Association (PA) office in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC,[6][7][8] eventually precipitated a by-election which would be held in January 2013.[9] On 14 January 2013, WP announced Lee's candidacy for the by-election.[3][10]
At the close of the nomination (on 16 January), Lee faced a rare four-cornered contest between PAP's Koh Poh Koon (a colorectal surgeon who joined the party three months prior), the SDA's Lim, and a fourth candidate, the Reform Party's Secretary-General Kenneth Jeyaretnam. On 26 January, Lee won the election with 16,045 votes (54.50%), with her rivals Koh, Jeyaretnam and Lim, received 12,875 (43.73%), 353 (1.20%) and 168 votes (0.57%), respectively. This win marked the second time after the 1981 by-election the WP had captured another parliamentary seat after a by-election, and Lee was also the first female opposition candidate to win a SMC.. Upon her win, Lee told the media that her immediate priority as Member of Parliament would be to ensure the smooth handover of the Town Council from the ruling PAP.[11] Lee was sworn in as a Member of Parliament on 4 February 2013.[12]
On 27 August 2015 during the 2015 general elections, PAP fielded Charles Chong against incumbent Lee. On 11 September, Lee was defeated in her defence of the SMC 48.24% to 51.76%. Lee was offered a Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) position with her electoral performance but she declined the offer,[13] with the last declination of a NCMP seat in 1984.[14] It was later revealed that Daniel Goh, a candidate part of the Workers' Party team for the East Coast GRC, would replace Lee as the last NCMP seat, on 4 February 2016.[15]
After WP won Sengkang GRC during the 2020 general election and formed Sengkang Town Council, Lee was appointed as a Key Member in the Town Council.[citation needed]
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Education
Lee attended Holy Innocents' High School and Ngee Ann Polytechnic before graduating from Curtin University in 2001.[16]
Personal life
Lee is married to Koh Chee Koon, a telecommunications consultant.[17] On 15 January 2014, it was announced that she is pregnant with her first child and on 1 July, she gave birth to a girl.[18]
References
External links
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